


Safe From Harm

by Polomonkey



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Canon Era, Caring, Father-Son Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 03:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13285878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polomonkey/pseuds/Polomonkey
Summary: Arthur brings Merlin home to Gaius after a bandit attack.





	Safe From Harm

**Author's Note:**

> Fills my h/c bingo square 'healers'. This is yer basic, grade one, get 'er done hurt/comfort fic. She ain't fancy but she'll hold up alright in a storm and take you where you need to go.

Gaius is already on his feet when Arthur bursts through the door with Merlin in his arms, almost as though he’d known this moment was coming.

“What happened?” he says, already clearing the patient bed, concealing the shake in his hand.

“Bandits… I… they dragged him out of camp this morning… we… it took a while to track them.”

Arthur’s speech is fractured, his face pale. He lays Merlin down on the bed and Gaius gets his first good look at him. It’s only fifty years as a healer that keeps his face blank as he looks down on the boy he thinks of as a son, a boy whose eye is swollen shut and whose lip is bleeding and who has bruises covering every visible inch of his body.

“Has he been conscious?” he asks quickly.

“Yes… but not for the last hour’s ride or so…”

Gaius checks Merlin’s eyes, feels his pulse.

“Most likely exhaustion,” he says briefly. “Is he bleeding anywhere?”

“Not much, just surface cuts.”

“And nothing else?” Gaius says, unable to keep the urgency out of his tone.

Arthur frowns.

“I mean, he’s been beaten.”

Gaius forces himself to breathe.

“Did they… take advantage of him?”

Arthur’s confusion turns to horror.

“No!”

“Are you sure, sire?” Gaius says, he’ll have to check anyway but it’s better he’s prepared.

“No, I promise, there were no signs and Merlin only said they hit him, he was hurt but he didn’t seem…”

Arthur sounds sure and when Gaius strips Merlin down, he finds no indication of anything untoward. He’ll need to ask Merlin himself to be certain, but in the moment his relief is immense.

“These marks on his wrists…”

Arthur’s mouth twists.

“They strung him up by his wrists. That’s how we found him.”

Gaius thumbs over the rope-burnt flesh, his heart in his mouth. Merlin, his sweet kind boy. He’d already been through too much. He had not deserved this.

“And the bandits?” he says, suddenly feeling hard. Wanting to hear that the prince had dispensed justice.

“All dead,” Arthur says, face grim.

Gaius nods, though he still feels angry. Perhaps it’s at Arthur himself for letting this happen, for not protecting Merlin better.

“Why did they take him?” he says, cleaning the dirt from Merlin’s body while he works, making sure each scab and wound is thoroughly washed out.

“Answers, I think, about Camelot’s defences. That they could sell.”

Arthur holds Merlin’s head up while Gaius checks it for wounds.

“They came while he was washing the pots in the river. Perhaps they thought the rest of us would be too much trouble.”

Arthur’s voice is full of barely suppressed rage and bitterness, Gaius suspects for the sheer cowardice of targeting a servant. He has no idea, of course, that Merlin could have been the most trouble of all of them if he wanted to be.

But he wouldn’t. Because he has to keep his magic secret and that meant sometimes not even using it when his life was on the line.

Not for the first time, Gaius wonders if he’s led Merlin down the wrong path. If he’d be better off confiding his secret to Arthur, seeing if the prince will keep it.

But then Gaius imagines Uther’s boundless rage, rage that not even the prince will be able to quell, and he shudders. He can picture Merlin on the pyre all too well. It haunts his worst nightmares.

“How did you find him?” he says, hoping for a sliver of comfort. And Arthur unwittingly offers it.

“We were lucky. The bandits accidentally left a trail for us – bits of clothing and food. They were careless.”

No, Merlin was clever, Gaius thinks.

The boy’s eyes are still shut. Gaius cleans and dresses and mixes pastes and potions. It’s ritual, it’s routine. Just like for any other patient. Except not like them at all.

Arthur can’t take his eyes off Merlin, he’s biting his lip the same way he used to when he was just a boy. He looks young, and the anger Gaius briefly felt at him before dissipates away. They’re both so young. Merlin might be like his son, but in some ways Arthur’s needed Gaius much more over the years. When Uther raged or Morgana dismissed or the knights pressured, Gaius has always been the one Arthur comes to.

When they’ve finally done all they can do, Gaius asks Arthur to help sit Merlin up.

“He needs to wake, just for a minute or two, so he can drink this tincture.”

Arthur climbs onto the bed, settles at the bed board and props Merlin up in his arms. Merlin’s head lolls back and Arthur rests it on his chest, giving Merlin’s hair a little stroke as he does so. Gaius sees and wonders. But now is not the time.

“Merlin,” Gaius says quietly. “Wake up, now. Just for a moment.”

Arthur shakes Merlin, ever so gently. Merlin mumbles something and turns his head.

“Arthur…” he breathes out.

“I’m here,” Arthur says, holding Merlin a little closer.

Merlin turns his head again, then whimpers. His eyes are still not open.

“Hurts,” he says hoarsely.

“I know, my boy,” Gaius says, a lump in his throat. “This will make you feel better.”

He puts the lip of the cup to Merlin’s mouth. Merlin coughs and tries to move away.

“No, no, come on now,” Arthur says softly. He takes the cup from Gaius and holds it back up to Merlin’s lips.

“For me,” he says. “Please.”

Merlin whimpers again, a tear dripping from under his closed eye.

“Hurts,” he says again.

“Just open your mouth,” Arthur coaxes. He brings his other hand round to the side of Merlin’s face and strokes his cheek a little, like Gaius has seen mothers do to babies who won’t feed.

Incredibly, it seems to work. Merlin stops moving his head and Arthur manages to help him drink most of the tincture.

“There’s a mouthful left,” he says uncertainly to Gaius.

“That’s fine, he can have more later. We can let him sleep now.”

Arthur nods and very carefully lays Merlin back down on the bed. He pulls the blanket up to Merlin’s chin and Merlin frets a little, halfway in and out of consciousness.

“You’re alright,” Arthur says soothingly. Gaius withdraws a little, cleans up his supplies. When he looks again, Merlin is sound asleep and Arthur is still knelt next to him, whispering softly.

Gaius pretends not to see when he presses a kiss to Merlin’s forehead. He had suspected something from the way they spoke to each other… but it had not been his concern, and it isn’t his concern now. All he knows, all he hopes, is that they’ll always protect each other.

“I have to go,” Arthur says regretfully. “My father will be waiting…”

“Of course, sire,” Gaius says.

“You’ll-”

“Keep you informed, yes.”

Arthur’s almost at the door when Gaius calls him back.

“Thank you,” he says softly. “For bringing him home.”

“Always,” Arthur says and there’s the determination of the little boy he was in his face, and the conviction of the man he is now.

Then Gaius waves him off and returns to mixing a new batch of tincture. His ward will need it when he wakes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
